Lecture 10 Flashcards
What are the myths surrounding mental illness ?
- People with mental illness are violent and dangerous
- People with metal illness are poor or less intelligent
- Mental illness is caused by a personal weakeness
- Mental illnes is a single, rare disorder
How is mental illness complicated ?
- Comorbidities are common
- Many people who fit a diagnosis for one mental disorder may partially fit the diagnosis for another as well
- People may not completely match any specific diagnosis
What is schizophrenia ?
a split between the emotional and intellectual aspects of experience
What was schizophrenia previously called ?
Dementia Praecoz (“premature dementia”)
What are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia ?
- Disorganized speech
- Disorganized behaviour
- Hallucination
- Delusions
What are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia ?
- Flattened affect and or anhedonia
- Speech minimized
- Lack of motivation
- Social withdrawl
What are the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia ?
- Poor sustained attention
- Low psychomotor speed/catatonia
- Poor learning and memory
- Poor abstract thinking/problem solving
What symptoms fall under complex syndrome ?
- Psychosis
- Emotional/Affective symptoms
- Motivtional impairment
- Cognitive impairment
What are the types of schizophrenia ?
- Paranoid
- Catatonic
- Disorganized
- Residual
- Undifferientiated
What is paranoid schizophrenia ?
Frequent visual and auditory hallucinations/delusions, disprganized speech, trouble concentrating, and significant behavioural impairment
What is catatonic schizophrenia ?
Excessive movement (catatonic excitement), or decreased movement (catatonic stupor)
* inability to speak (mutism). mimicking owrds (echolalia) and mimicking actions (echopraxia)
* Rarest
What is disorganized schizophrenia ?
Disorganized behaviours and nonsencial speeach in the absence of delusions and hallucinations
* Most common
What is residual schizophrenia?
Previously diagnosed - no longer experiencing prominent symptoms
* still exhibited symtoms including a flattened affect, psychomotor difficulties, and disturbed speech
What is undifferentiated schizpphrenia ?
Symptoms fit into more than one subtype of schizophrenia
What is the prevalence of schizophrenia ?
- Prevelance higher in men than women (7:5 ratio)
- More prevenlent in prosperous countries than 3rd world
How is genetics tied to schizophrenia ?
- People with closer genetic relationships have higher concordance for schizophrenia
- Adopted children studies suggest a genetic role (Prenatal environment of the biological mother cannot be discontinued)
- Environmental influence, such as family environment, shown to have a role
- No common genetic variant produces more than small increase in the probability of schizophrenia
- A few rare genes are known to greatly increase the risk of schizophrenia, mostly by disrupting the development of glutamate synapses or by interfering with the immune system
What does DISC1 control ?
Disrupted in schizophernia 1 controls differentiation and migration of neurons in brain development
What is the DISC1 protein important for ?
The DSC1 protein is important for neurodevelopment
What has human studies shown regarding gene mutations ?
- High prevalence of “broken copy” in Large Scottish family over 5 generations - development of schizophrenia, bipolar & other mood disorders
- Meta-analysis confirmed overall association and found strongest estimate in Chinese population
What has animal studies shown on gene mutations ?
Mutant mice with no DISC1 in brain stem stem cells show behaviours that mimic schizophrenia
What is NRG1 important for ?
Neuregulin 1 protein is important for neurodevelopment
What do association studies show regarding gene mutations ?
- Iceland population - NRG1 risk allele doubles the risk of schizophrenia
- Extended to Scottish, Swedish and Chinese populations
What is NRG1 associated with ?
Associated with bipolar disorder and creativity, independent of schizotypal traits
What is the recent popular hypothesis ?
Not just one gene, but new mutations in any one of hundreds of genes
What was found regarding microdeletions and microduplications ?
- Found in 15% schizophrenia patients; 20% if onset before 18 years. Compared to 5% in control group
- Not random, but selective for genes that are important for production of proteins involved in neurodevelopment and nognitive function
What is the neurodevelopmental hypothesis ?
Suggests abnormailities in the neonatal development of the nervous system leads to mild abnormalities of brain anatomy and major abnormalities in behaviour
* abnormalities could result from genetics or other influences
* Environmental influences later in life aggravate the symptoms
What is the season-of-birth-effect ?
Babies born in late winter and early spring motnhs are at higher risk of “positive” schizophrenia
What are some viral infections that a mother can get ?
- Increase cytokines in the mother that impair brain development of fetus
- Cause fever that damages the fetal brain
What is the research evidence found on viral infections and schizphrenia ?
- Babies born from mother who contracted flu in 1st trimester 7x more likely to develop schizophrenia
- Increased schizophrenia rates among people born 2-3 months after major influenza epidemics
What are the risk factors falling under the neurodevelopmental hypothesis ?
- Poor nutrition of the mother during pregnancy
- Premature birth
- Low birth weight
- Complications during delivery
- Extreme stress of mother during pregnancy
- Immunological rejection
- Other infections during pregnancy
- Postnatal stressors
What is the two-hit hypothesis ?
Schizophrenia is the result of a combination of a genetic predisposition and impacts from the environement in prenatal/neonatal development, later in life, or both
What are the brain abnormalities tied to schizophrenia ?
- Enlarged lateral ventricle and prominent sulci
- Decreased tissue cerebral gray matter
- Smaller PFC and hippocampus
- Less gray matter and white matter
- Reduced cortical connectivity and activity
- Glial reductions (glial theory): oligodentrocytes and mylein integrity (DISC1); altererd microglia in temporal and frontal lobes; astrocyte glutamate transporters in PFC